Week 4 Discussion Responses - Analytics

Discussion 1 Response

BY: D,W

The study I found involved taking children ages 1-5 and testing to see if more vitamin D during winter months reduced the amount of upper respiratory tract infections that occurred during that time. As we know a sick child can impact much more than just that child. Sick children at home normally mean that a parent has to stay home from work which then impacts the parent's place of employment. The ripple effect is quite large. By finding a way to reduce these infections, it could in theory, reduce the number of missed work days used by parents. Unfortunately, the study didn't find any significant evidence that vitamin D would do the trick. 

They sampled 703 children ages 1-5 over 3 years. About half the group was given a large amount of vitamin D while the other half was given a normal amount. From there, each time a child had the infection, the parents would take a swap from the nose and send it in for testing. At that point, the lab would test to confirm what infection it was and then keep a log. 

"The mean number of laboratory-confirmed URTIs was 1.05 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.91 - 1.19) for the high-dose group and 1.03 (95% CI, 0.90 - 1.16) for the standard-dose group, indicating no statistically significant difference..."(Lewis, 2017). 

One positive from the test was that there were half as many influenza infections in the higher vitamin D group than there were in the normal dosage. At this point, it is not believed that giving any more vitamin D to children would reduce upper respiratory infections. 

Lewis, R. (2017, July 18). High-Dose Vitamin D Does Not Prevent Kids' Colds in Winter. Retrieved July 19, 2017, from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/883073 

Discussion 2 Response

BY: C,P

        Parameter estimation is the process of using sample data to estimate the parameters of the selected distribution (Eichholtz & Patel, 2002). There are several parameter estimation methods available for use based on the information being collected. Parameter estimations are often used in real estate for property buyers and sellers, municipalities for tax purposes, financial institutions for loan specifics and real estate brokerage firms for marketing (Eichholtz & Patel, 2002). Although each may have its own use for the gathered data the information provided provides a projection of the real estate market at a given time.

              The study examined looks to estimate the option value of a seller’s interest in a home by use of a method of parameter estimation known as least squares. A sample of 500 LA homes was randomly selected using a computer system database and analyzed in terms of return investment. The standard deviation equals the volatility of price appreciation over monthly intervals in this study. For one home analyzed the return estimate for the month of February was 10% with a 90% confidence interval of 7% and 13% (Eichholtz & Patel, 2002). Since the mean returned a value of .38% which is below the lower confidence bound researchers were able to estimate that the value return for the month of February is approximately 7% (Eichholtz & Patel, 2002). Unlike financial markets, real estate markets do not provide all of the needed data to calculate the value of the interest in a purchased home (Eichholtz & Patel, 2002). One of the positive  benefits of this data collection was the ability to provide homebuyers with an estimate of return value on a property being sold or purchased within a given period. Estimates that show a decrease in return investment may help deter home buyers away from investing in properties with little to no return value.

Eichholtz, P., & Patel, K. (2002). New directions in real estate finance and investment: Maastricht-Cambridge Symposium 2000: a special issue of the Journal of real estate finance and economics(Vol. 24.1). Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=j4fjBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA150&lpg=PA150&dq=parameter Estimation and estimating real estate value&source=bl&ots=HXRGjmnZKY&sig=VT0C2wDOJW6B2pO6ivnTSgQmTR4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj6qIqVzJbVAhVGeT4KHZftAKcQ6AEIYjAH#v=snippet&q=parameter%20estimat&f=false.